Chapter 4 When Can You Trade Forex?
During the past quarter century, the concept of a twenty-four hour market has become a reality. Somewhere on the planet, financial centers are open for business, and banks and other institutions are trading the dollar and other currencies, every hour of the day and night, aside from possible minor gaps on weekends. In financial centers around the world, business hours overlap; as some centers close, others open and begin to trade. The foreign exchange market follows the sun around the earth.
What Are the Forex Market Hours?
The International Date Line is located in the western Pacific, and each business day arrives first in the Asia-Pacific financial centers— first Wellington, New Zealand, then Sydney, Australia, followed by Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore. A few hours later, while markets remain active in those Asian centers, trading begins in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Later still, when it is late in the business day in Tokyo, markets in Europe open for business. Subsequently, when it is early afternoon in Europe, trading in New York and other U.S. centers start. Finally, completing the circle, when it is mid- or late-afternoon in the United States, the next day has arrived in the Asia-Pacific area, the first markets there have opened, and the process begins again.
Business is heavy when both the U.S. markets and the major European markets are open—that is, when it is morning in New York and afternoon in London. In the New York market, nearly two thirds of the day’s activity typically takes place in the morning hours. Activity normally becomes very slow in New York in the mid- to late afternoon, after European markets have closed and before the Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore markets have opened.
It continues this cycle for five days, until the market closes at 5 pm EST on Friday in New York. At this point, the market is closed for the weekend.
1、The forex market is open 24 hours a day in different parts of the world, from 5 p.m. EST on Sunday until 5 p.m. EST on Friday.
2、The ability of the forex to trade over a 24-hour period is due in part to different international time zones.
3、Forex trading opens daily with the Australasia area, followed by Europe, and then North America.
4、As one region's markets close another opens, or has already opened, and continues to trade in the forex market.
Trading Sessions According to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
Trading Sessions According to EST (Eastern Standard Time)
Actual open and close times are based on local business hours. This varies during the months of October and April as some countries shift to/from daylight savings time (DST). The day within each month that a country may shift to/from DST also varies.
Trade Throughout the Night
The forex market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, providing plenty of flexibility and opportunity for traders. In this period, there are major forex markets open in various countries which all overlap, so you can trade 24/7.
If you are looking to trade particular currencies, such as the Japanese yen or Singapore dollar, the best time to trade forex may be overnight. The forex market is open 24 hours so you can trade through the night, which may be best when trading Japanese, Chinese, Australian and other currencies which could be most active at those times due to time differences.
This can suit certain traders, if you are freelance, work during the days or nights or it is a full-time profession. These additional forex trading hours also provide many more possibilities to profit and take advantage of any price fluctuations that you would otherwise miss. Generally, the best time to trade forex is when the most markets overlap and the currency pairs you are trading are heavily tied to both.
